Schools: NYC Department of Education & Staten Island

The New York City Department of Education is located in the newly renovated Tweed Courthouse, shown in this circa 1940 photo.Associated Press

Updated for 2014

The city’s Department of Education (formerly the Board of Education), has its headquarters in the Tweed Courthouse, around the corner from City Hall in Manhattan.

Newly-elected Mayor Bill De Blasio oversees the school system, and in January he appointed Carmen Farina, a long-time educator, as the city’s schools chancellor.

Decisions affecting the city’s public schools are made by the mayor in consultation with the chancellor and his staff, and are approved by the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), a board made up mostly of mayoral appointees and five members appointed by the borough presidents.

The public school system is divided into 32 local school districts. Staten Island comprises District 31; officials’ offices are in the Petrides Educational Complex in Sunnyside. Special education schools are part of District 75.

District 31’s community education council (CEC) consists of nine parents chosen by Parent-Teacher Associations, with two other voting members appointed by the borough president. The CEC, which has replaced the former Community School Board, holds public meetings once a month at the Petrides complex. The board is an advisory group and cannot make education policy on its own, though it can make recommendations to the PEP.

A citywide high school council has two parent representatives from each borough and a non-voting high school member. There is also a special education council, composed of parents, two appointees of the public advocate and a non-voting student, and a citywide council for parents whose children are non-native English language speakers.

Each public school also has a parent coordinator to act as an ombudsman between parents and the school system.

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS

Gary Hecht, superintendent of District 75 special education schools, 212-802-1503

Aimee Horowitz, superintendent of District 31 high schools, 718-390-1594